Drag City to reissue penultimate Royal Trux album Veterans of Disorder in November, because it would be weird not to

And the reissue train rolls on. What Drag City started a number of years ago with the LP reissue of 1989’s self-titled debut, then steamed right through 1998’s Accelerator and its EP follow up 3-Song EP, will continue with the band’s penultimate album, Veterans of Disorder, out in the world again on November 19 (14 years, two months, and 12 days after the original release according to Drag City). Well, I guess I should say “penultimate if you don’t count Hand of Glory.”

Anyway, originally released by Drag City back in 99, Veterans of Disorder has been out of print for (at least) several years. If I have my timeline correct, Veterans was the first full-length release of material written after Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema’s brief stint with Virgin Records. Most (all?) of Accelerator pulls from stuff they recorded at Virgin, so Veterans is sort of a return to their roots. Sort of.

I should note that one of the benefits of writing about Royal Trux is that it gives me an excuse to put up a link to this ancient interview with Jennifer Herrema conducted by James Jackson Toth. Neato.

Here’s the Veterans of Disorder tracklist, just in case you forgot what it looked like:

Every generation gets the Nugent it deserves. By this, I mean that everyone in the 1970s was a homophobic bow-hunter with uneven chin hair and, thus, totally deserved Ted Nugent. Hi, welcome to the news article!

One would hope we live in kinder, gentler times now. At the very least, we probably kill less things with bows, so now we get our new Nugent: Cian Nugent. Where our old Nugent was a scuzz-rocker from Detroit, the new Nugent is an acoustic guitarist from Dublin. On November 12, No Quarter records will release Nugent’s new album Born With The Caul, which marks his first full-length record with backing band The Cosmos. Sadly, the LP’s cover does not feature the guitarist boasting two acoustic guitars for arms, the only element he should have borrowed from the previous Nugent.

Born With The Caul was recorded throughout late 2012 and early 2013. Don’t believe me? Well… that’s very strange of you. Perhaps adopt a more trusting nature, especially in a low-stakes situation such as this? Maybe hearing the record’s opening track, “Grass Above My Head,” below will convince you. It clearly has that classic “Dublin in late 2012 or early 2013” sound.

It seems like it was just yesterday when the Wu-Tang Clan burst into the public consciousness with the dingy bump of “Protect Ya Neck.” Yeah, seems that way, but, turns out, it’s actually been a full two decades of Wu. Given the group’s carefully cultivated imagery, there exists a multitude of possibilities for commemorative items. Wu-Tang-brand nunchucks? That would make an awful lot of sense. A Wu-Tang chess set? Well, there’s one with that recent reissue of Liquid Swords, but sure. A Wu-Tang bicycle? That… no, I don’t follow that particular item’s relation to the Wu. But that doesn’t stop it from existing!

The official Wu-Tang 20th-anniversary bike is the product of a collaboration with Arizona’s State Bicycle Co. As would be expected, the bike’s color scheme is the same black and yellow as the group’s iconic logo. Other Wu-related accoutrements include handlebars engraved with the Wu-Tang logo, but sadly, it doesn’t include a device to fire the Digital Bullet, which has the ability to turn bad men good.

The bike sells for $599, roughly the same market price as an ounce of Method Man’s super sperm.

Reader, do you give a fuck? DJ Rashad definitely doesn’t, Chance the Rapper might give a smidge of one, and to be totally honest, I give several fucks. Several! But what about you, reader? I get the feeling you’re one of those “too cool for school” types. If that’s the case, I’ve got a news post in me that just might change your tune. You can do whatever you want, obviously, but know that I’m picturing you sitting there wearing dark sunglasses, with a jean jacket draped over your shoulders, arms folded.

Chance the Rapper (giver of a smidge of fucks) and DJ Rashad (he who has no fucks to give) are going to be touring together this fall, right after Chance gets back from his international jaunt with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Starting in late October, Chance and Rashad will join DJ Spinn to take their acid rappin’ footworkin’ show on the road throughout the US. Chance is touring in support of his Acid Rap mixtape, which came out earlier this year, and Rashad will be supporting his Double Cup full-length for Hyperdub, which is out October 22.

And! If the tour announcement isn’t enough for you, then slide your super sweet and face-shape-flattering sunglasses down the bridge of your nose and say, “Hot damn, that’s worth at least a half a fuck!” then check this out: Chance the Rapper recently collaborated with James Blake on a remix of “Life Round Here” from Blake’s Overgrown (TMT Review). Like many songs, it consists of a bunch of different notes, some rhythms, and people singing. There’s even some rapping on this particular song. I’ll bet that if you’re willing to unfold your jean-jacketed arms and take off your dark shades, you just might end up giving a fuck about it.

Enough with rustic, hand-hewn cabins in the woods of Michigan’s scenic and scarily-isolated Upper Peninsula. (No offense, UPers. I am scared of everything, especially time alone in nature with myself.) The new cool “indie” place to record an album isn’t just one boring ol’ place with no TV, lots of beer, and scary coyotes outside. In fact, the new cool “indie” place to record your hot ticket debut album isn’t just one place at all; it’s lots of places, and one of them is Cambodia! L.A.-based Matthew Hemerlein, the voice and multi-instrumentalist behind Lo-Fang, recorded his debut, Blue Film, in a Maryland farmhouse (yes, natch), “hotels and studios in Cambodia” (WHAT), merry olde London, England (bitch, please), Connie Britton-vehicle Nashville, and the legendary Capitol Records Studios in Los Angeles (Whatever, I drive past this every day. WHATEVER sooooo not bothered). This guy! This guy, TAKE ME WITH YOU NEXT TIME YOU RECORD AN ALBUM ON SEVERAL CONTINENTS, THIS GUY.

And now Mr. Lo-Fang Guy himself is the latest addition to the always epic 4AD roster. Blue Film is scheduled for an early 2014 release, but if you want to soak in the chamber-pop-meets-R&B-while-jetsetting-between-nations vibe of Lo-Fang a little sooner, well, then, you’re in luck! Because 4AD is releasing a limited 12-inch “double A-side single” (HOW DOES THIS WORK) of tracks “88” and “Boris” on October 8. Beware leprechauns, pirates, and all other keepers of rare treasures! Double A-side limited 12” singles are the “Oops, All Berries” of the record-collecting world.

Ahead of the October 15 release of his upcoming full-length NYC, HELL 3:00 AM on Hippos in Tanks, everyone’s favorite iPad-slingingsushi chef has announced he’ll be heading out into that cold European night to show some select folks what it looks like when he brings the late-capitalism rock IRL. Pretty sweet. Also, take note, Ferraro referred to the dates listed below as the “European leg” of the tour, and as you know, most organisms don’t just have one leg, but often as many as four. So… James Ferraro world tour confirmed?

Additional dates or no, if you look closely at the pretty little ones we can confirm, you’ll notice that one of the Poland dates is with Dean Blunt, and that the date in Germany is with Inga Copeland. Looks like in addition to being the king of music that sounds like it’s from both the future and the past all at once, Mr. Ferraro is looking to dip his toes in a little bit of couples counseling. Or maybe he’s just a gossip go-between? Or maybe Inga Copeland doesn’t refer to Inga Copeland after all. Maybe it’s more misdirection, a trick. Maybe this tour announcement is just a covert way of letting us all know that the disbanded Christian indie rock band Copeland are finally giving the people what they want, i.e., a one-off reunion date in Germany.